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In the United States, law enforcement procedures and actions are taken according to scientific principles. Over the last century there were several major theories of crime that influenced law enforcement activities in the field. One of the most important of these theories is the “broken windows” theory. During the course of my internship I was able to observe police officers on the street direct their actions according to the principles of this theory. Since this is a very widely accepted theory, it is very important to define, understand and examine the effects that it has on daily law enforcement procedures.

“Broken windows” is a theory that has originated in the early eighties with an article written by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in the Atlantic Monthly magazine. In this article the authors are reviewing the law enforcement policies of the state of New Jersey from the 1970’s. During…